Halloween of Fate
by Vertraq
Summary: Harry's first major change in life happened on the Halloween when he was 15 months old. It was ironic that the second major change would happen on Halloween 9 years later. Read on as Harry takes his fate into his own hands. A gamer fic with videogame!Harry living his life as a game. Rating because of mentions of abuse and just to be sure. Pairings undecided for now.
1. Chapter 0 - Prologue

Hello everyone. This is my first time writing fanfiction so constructive criticism is very appreciated. I chose to advance the time 5 years to get Harry some familiarity with gaming elements. Harry will be abused in this story. There will be an outside POV in the prologue, but it will be switched to Harry's POV later. At the moment I plan to have a manipulative Dumbledore, but not necessarily evil, but it might change. This first chapter is just a prologue and my attempt to explain how he acquire the power of The Gamer.

Disclaimer: All characters and locations belongs to J.K Rowling.

Warning: Mentions of heavy abuse.

Prologue: The changing fate

 **31st of October, 1995, Little Whinging, Surrey**

In a small town known as Little Whinging, in Surrey, England, we find a small idyllic neighbourhood. When we look on the surface we find nothing out of the ordinary, we have the usual gossiping ladies and a couple of children playing in the neighbourhood park. But when we look under the surface we find that not every household is as normal as they would like to pretend. One household in particular is especially noteworthy.

In this household we find our hero, Harry James Potter, the boy-who-lived, the champion of the British magical world. Our hero is currently in quite a bit of pain. He had been caught reading one of Dudley's game manuals while cleaning Dudley's room. Vernon Dursley, the father, had been enraged that the boy had dared to touch one of Dudley's belongings for a purpose other than cleaning it and had told Dudley to get some practise with his new boxing gloves. An excruciating 20 minutes later Vernon had thrown him inside his cupboard, resulting in several more bruises.

That is correct, our hero lives in a small cupboard under the stairs, even thought there are two spare bedrooms (Dudley's second bedroom and the guest room). You see, the Dursley family, the neighbourhood paragon's of goodness and normality, were ironically enough quite the twisted freaks themselves, not that they would ever think that themselves. In their point of view they were not only in their right to, as they say, "Beat the freakishness out of the boy", but they were doing him a favour.

The main perpetrator behind the abuse was one Petunia Dursley, former Evans, Harry's mother's sister. She is best described as a spiteful woman whose personality leaves much to be desired. Her appearance has a striking resemblance to a horse-faced giraffe with brown hair. By spewing her vitriol and jealousy-induced hateful comments about the unnaturalness of all that is magic she had coloured her family against it as well. While she only rarely got physical with the punishments, most noticeably with a skillet, she always seemed to have a hateful comment to spare. Not that they needed all that much of a push to be bigoted idiots.

Her husband, Vernon Dursley, was quick to anger and it was not unusual that he got physical as soon as his temper got away from him. Like Petunia he has a striking resemblance to an animal, but sadly for him his resemblance was to that of an overweight walrus with blond hair. He made sure to air his views about Harry's freakishness and how much of a burden he was on their family as often as possible.

Then there was their son Dudley, who was the same age as Harry, who weighed at least double his weight. And let's just say it wasn't muscles that weighted him down. His looks were inherited from his parents as he looked like a walrus with brown hair, instead of Vernon's blond hair. He took great joy in tormenting his cousin. The torments included hitting him, a game known as "Harry Hunting" where he and his gang would try to catch him and hit him as much as possible before repeating it all over again, and other similar activities.

Then there was our hero, Harry James Potter, also known as Freak in the Dursley household. He was 10 years old and small for his age due to not getting enough nourishment. He had the most striking green eyes and messy black hair. He wore a pair of glasses that did not help his vision (Vernon had bought an old pair of mass-produced glasses for a couple of pounds when the school informed him that Harry needed glasses). He bore his iconic lightning bolt scar on his forehead, but otherwise had fewer scars than you would think. His "family" had realised that scars were bad since they might raise questions about his homelife, so they aimed for broken bones instead. He still had several scars from various sources thought.

Quite frankly, if it were not for his magic, he would most likely be dead by now. His magic would drain itself trying to repair his broken bones and burst blood vessels after his "loving" family had a go at him. But even if he retained the ability to stay alive, the situation was becoming untenable. Harry was coming closer to a breakdown and as he laid there in his cupboard as the night slowly fell, his subconscious realised his plight and reached out for his magic to once again solve the problem.

It is said that magic is a strange and interesting force, but the subconscious is not without its quirks either. Harry would never know just what happened that night, but he would carry its result for the rest of his life. His subconscious was trying to come up with a way to fix his breaking psyche and was searching for whatever positive influence it could find. It would be a lie to say Harry's life was full of happiness, but even then there was small smidgens of it, both conscious and subconscious. The most recent it found (and thus the first major influence) was ironically what had caused that last push that resulted in this situation, basically the time spent dreaming while reading a game manual. Harry loved reading topics based on fantasy since they allowed him to more easily forget about his own situation. He had stood there reading and dreaming about being a great warrior, the skilled rogue or the grandmaster magician. His subconscious seized a hold on that dream even as it reached out for his second major influence, the sacrificial love based ward from his mother and father.

Lily's title as the brightest witch of her age was not just for show, and more importantly she had the work ethics to go with it. Thought no one knew for sure and only a few suspected it, she was the real reason Voldemort failed that night. A loving mother in defence of their child is a frightening thing. A desperate loving mother in defence of their child should really cause the attacker to have some second thoughts about attacking them. A desperate loving mother who was hailed as a genius and who had had over a year of time to come up with ideas for protecting her baby boy should really have clued Voldemort in on that this was a bad idea. She had many contingency plans, many of which were useless since she did not have her wand, but she made do without it. She went straight for the plan which would leave her baby boy the safest, a ward.

This ward was based on an old baby ward that would protect the baby from harmful magical diseases. Lily picked it apart, reconstructed it with a different purpose, disassembled it again and repeated until she had a ward based on parental love for their child and the parents willingness to stare death in the eyes to give their child a chance to survive. And on that fateful Halloween 9 years ago both Lily and James stood in front of certain death to protect their child. When Voldemort had killed them and turned his wand on their child, he unknowingly activated the ward. The ward took the curse and returned it with vengeance, lashing out at the threat to its ward.

It was ironical that it was the same day, 9 years later, that would be the day of his next major change in life. His subconscious took the happiness from his days as a baby in the Potter household and infused his magic with it, soothing his frayed nerves, cracking psyche and his hurting body.

Had it been any other day of the year, this would probably have been all that happened, but alas, it was all hallows eve, and the spiritual world was as close as it gets to the physical world. Had the ward been established properly and feed from the love of a living family the effect would have been negligible, but Harry had in the first 15 months of his life got more love from his parents than he had from his relatives (with a wide margin). Thus the ward was still more attuned to the love of his parents than his relatives and as the clock struck midnight, the ward received a power boost when the original source of its power was temporarily closer than normal. The ward, boosted from the power, twisted and changes his magic into something new based on the thoughts it was infused with. It was still the same power, but its shape was different. It took so much magic to do this that the ward was almost destroyed, surviving with the barest of margins.

The subconscious, satisfied with what it had accomplished, settled down once more and let sleep claim it. His magic, still reeling from the changes done to it, slowly settled down. Had he still been awake, he would have heard a ping and seen a blue screen appear in front with the following words on it.

* * *

[Class Change]

Class changed to The Gamer. Choose Yes to retain the class and No to reject it.

You have 3 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds to reject the change.

Yes / No

* * *

AN: And done, hope you like it. Not sure if I made it clear enough or if it confused you. The next chapter will mainly deal with the tutorial, since the game system is a complex and might be hard to understand unless you got the whole picture (which you sadly won't get since some parts won't appear until triggered, and let's just say that might take a while), so I will do my best to explain it.

And don't worry, there won't be much more abuse in this story. There will still be some but much less than it was hinted at previously, since I will make it part of quest rewards.

Hope you enjoyed it and please leave a review.


	2. Chapter 1 - The Tutorial (part 1)

Disclaimer: All characters and locations belongs to J.K Rowling.

Thoughts looks like this ' _example'_

Speech looks like "example".

Edit: Changed the difficulty adept into journeyman. Adept is still in the system, but lower than before, se next chapter for details. Moved summary to first status page. Added another unknown ward. Other changes were minor and mostly visual.

 **Chapter 1 – The Tutorial (part 1)**

When Harry woke up the next day, he immediately sensed that something was wrong. He laid as still as he could, kept his eyes closed and tried to take stock of the situation. As the minutes went by he got more and more confused as he still couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then suddenly he realised why he could not sense anything in the vicinity that was wrong. It wasn't what was there, it was something he had become so familiar with that it had been a constant unwelcome companion for large parts of his life.

It was pain. And now it was suddenly gone.

The aches he would almost always wake up with from the beatings he got, gone. The pain from cracked bones that he had become so familiar with that he barely even felt it any more, gone. Even the discomfort he usually felt from curling up on his small mattress seemed largely abated.

Confused, he opened his eyes as slowly as possible until he could peek out while still appearing asleep if someone was looking. As he took stock of the situation he noticed something blue in front of him. As he tried to focus on it he recoiled in shock. Right in front of him was shining blue window with clearly discernible text on it.

* * *

You have slept on an aged mattress in slight discomfort.

You have recovered 75% HP/MP and minor ailments and status effects has been removed.

* * *

To say he that he was confused would have been an understatement, there were so many things that didn't make sense right now. To begin with, why was there a blue window floating in the air in front of him?! And why could he see it so clearly? It should have been at least a bit blurry based on his previous experience with his vision. Confused, he took a quick look around (the window emitted a surprising amount of light). Yep, vision still sucks.

He stared at the screen for another minute with a guarded expression before he slowly lifted his hand towards it. He extended a finger and gave it a quick poke. The window rippled and disappeared from the point he had poked. And with the light from the screen gone, the darkness reclaimed the cupboard.

He stared into the darkness for a minute with a blank expression on his face, before a single thought went through his mind.

' _What the hell was that?!_ 'Harry thought.

His subconscious, recognising his request, took it and forwarded it to his magic, and thus triggering it to answer his thought.

* * *

 **[Tutorial]**

Do you wish to view the tutorial?

 **Yes/No**

* * *

His magic taking stock of the situation, triggered another window that it would use for situations like this.

* * *

 **[Quest!]**

 **The Tutorial**

What is going on? Find out what is happening.

Objective: Complete the tutorial

Rewards: Hopefully understanding the situation, 50 XP.

Failure: Remain confused for the foreseeable future.

 **Accept/Decline**

* * *

For his part, Harry just stared at the windows, not sure if the windows was real or if he had finally cracked under his relatives tender care. Realising that staring did not seem to solve this situation he read through the windows and quietly processed the information. Deciding that it was unlikely to worsen his situation he decided to take a leap of faith and take the bull by the horn.

 _'It couldn't possibly be worse than the Dursleys after all'_ he mused.

He pressed accept on the quest screen and it was replaced with a [Quest accepted!] screen which faded away a few seconds after he read it. Then he pressed yes on the Tutorial screen. It was replaced by a new screen.

* * *

 **Welcome to**

 **Harry Potter: The Game!**

Congratulations! Yesterday you gained and accepted the power of The Gamer and all perks and burdens associated with it. The Gamer makes you live out your life as a game with you as the main character. The game consists of many different functions, many of them which will be explained here. The tutorial will hopefully give you a basic understanding of your new role in life and the new possibilities available to you. You can at any time pause the tutorial by either using the command "Pause Tutorial" or the pause symbol in the upper left corner denoted by two straight vertical lines. To resume, use the command "Resume Tutorial".

Now, we will first start with your status. By using the command "Status" combined with the intent to use it (it wouldn't do have menus popping up during regular conversation after all) you will close this window and open up your status page.

* * *

Upon a whispered "Status", the window disappeared and was replaced with a new one. The new one resembled an open book, with a picture of him and what he was currently wearing on the left side and several fields of information on the right side.

* * *

 **[Status]**

Name: Harry James Potter | | | Age:10

Race: Human | | | Title: Freak

Class: The Gamer

Level: 0 | | | Next level: 0/100

HP: 112,5/112,5 | | | MP: 100/100 (200)

HP/min: 8,63 | | | MP/min: 7,25

 **Attributes**

Strength 3 x 0.75 + 0 = 2,25

Dexterity 5 x 0.6 + 0 = 3

Vitality 3 x 0.75 + 0 = 2,25

Charisma 0 + 1 = 1

Intelligence 4 + 0 = 4

Wisdom 2 + 0 = 2

Status points left: 0

 **Resistance**

Dark Magic: -25%

Disease: -25%

Poison: -25%

 **Summary**

Harry James Potter is the unwanted nephew of Petunia Dursley, former Evans. He was born on the 31st of July, 1985. He was later orphaned at a young age from his loving parents and ended up in the not so loving care of his aunt and uncle. He has little knowledge about his parents other than that their last name was Potter and that they are dead. According to his relatives they were good-for-nothing drunks, but Harry has his doubts. Harry's life has recently taken a turn for the better with him receiving the powers of The Gamer. Other than that Harry knows little of himself. He has a distinct scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt.

* * *

After looking at it for a few seconds a new window appeared beside the previous one.

* * *

 **[Tutorial – Status]**

Welcome to your status page. To the left is an overview of your current appearance and equipment. The equipment will be explained in a later part of the tutorial so do no concern yourself with that for now. To the right is your current status. It contains information such as your name, age, race, title and more. First up is your attributes. The available attributes to you are Strength (Str), Dexterity (Dex), Vitality(Vit), Charisma (Cha), Intelligence (Int) and Wisdom (Wis). The value without bracket is your base value. The value in the brackets are the effective value after adding merits and demerits. For a detailed explanation of a attribute, press the corresponding name. This window will disappear once you press one of them and a new tutorial window will appear once you have examined each of the attributes.

* * *

Doing exactly that, the tutorial window disappeared and a new window containing the information for Strength appeared.

* * *

 **[Strength]**

A numerical representation of your muscled based power. Strength governs over your base physical damage. For example it decides how hard you can hit and how heavy a weight you can lift.

* * *

After that he went through each attribute in turn.

* * *

 **[Dexterity]**

A numerical representation of your coordination, agility and accuracy. Dexterity governs over your precision movements and reaction time. For example it factors in heavily in your ranged weapon accuracy and all weapon masteries since they are based in coordination.

* * *

 **[Vitality]**

A numerical representation of your endurance and the resilience of your muscles. Vitality governs how long you can perform physical task and to a lesser degree mental tasks. Vitality can be seen as your physical stamina.

For each point in vitality you gain 50 HP, 2.5 HP/min and 1 MP/min.

* * *

 **[Charisma]**

A numerical representation of how charismatic you are. Charisma governs over your social skills and how secure you feel about social interactions. For example, charisma heavily factors into your ability to convince people of the truth of your statements.

* * *

 **[Intelligence]**

A numerical representation of how intelligent you are. Intelligence governs over your memorization skills and magical capacity. For example how much information you can retain.

For each point in intelligence you gain 50 MP.

* * *

 **[Wisdom]**

A numerical representation of how wise you are. Wisdom governs over your problem solving skills, analytical thinking, magical recharge rate and indirectly your regeneration. Your magical energy is infused through your body and will thus play part of how fast you regain HP. For example wisdom helps with mathematical and strategic skills.

For each point in wisdom you gain 2.5 MP/min and 1 HP/min.

* * *

Harry slowly digested the information and tried to make sense of it. There were several unfamiliar terms that he was unused to, but before he could get into details about exactly what this meant for him and the numbers present, the next tutorial window appeared.

* * *

 **[Tutorial – Increasing attributes]**

Now that you have a basic understanding of the different attributes (don't worry if you don't understand them in detail yet, you can always revisit the explanation after the tutorial is finished) it is time for you to find out how they can be increased. There are 6 general ways to increase them.

1\. When you level up you receive 3 free status points that you can spend however you like. You currently have none so you will have to wait until next level to increase them this way.

2\. They can be increased by training them. Different attributes requires different ways of training. Generally you can increase them by pushing yourself in the areas which they govern. For example, charisma increases the more often and better you perform in your interactions with others and whether or not you influences them. This way increases in difficulty the higher the attribute rises, I.e. to raise strength from 10 to 11 is more difficult than raising it from 9 to 10.

3\. Quests can give you status points as rewards for completing them, both free and assigned.

4\. Skills can give a boost to different attributes while active or even give status points as a reward for mastering them.

5\. Equipment can give you boosts to different attributes by equipping them.

6\. Certain consumables can give you bonuses over time or even permanently. These are known as buffs. Be aware that the permanent boosting ones are generally very rare and should be treated with care.

Press continue to proceed

 **Continue**

* * *

Harry made sure to memorize all the different ways to increase the attributes before proceeding.

* * *

 **[Tutorial - Summary]**

The one thing remaining on the first status screen is the summary, which gives you a summation of yourself. It might mention defining moments and some personal history, it can vary depending on many different factors.

Press continue to proceed

 **Continue**

* * *

As Harry was digesting this information he heard (and felt) someone stomping down the stairs (they seemed to take pleasure in being as loud as possible). Quickly pausing the tutorial to make it go away in fear of what his uncle would do if he saw any of his so called freakishness, he hurriedly tried to make himself appear as innocent as possible. Hearing his uncles laboured breathing from doing something as exhausting as descending the stairs, he waited for him to unlock the cupboard. It didn't take long before he heard the sound of the lock on the cupboard being unlocked and the door thrown open. With the three words "Freak, breakfast, now" he could only stare in horror as a new window appeared in front of him with a, to him, earth shattering ping. He froze in horror as the seconds ticked by and he could only dread what his uncle would do to him. But as the seconds ticked by and nothing happened he looked up, confused, to see what had happened to his uncle since he had not retaliated to the window's sudden appearance.

He found his uncle staring at him and as the seconds ticked by it seemed Vernon was losing what little patience he had.

"I mean now, boy!" he half-shouted, half whispered (it simply wouldn't do to wake Dudley up before he got enough sleep, he was a growing boy after all), which resulted in an odd mess of high and low tones, and grabbed a hold of Harry's arm and violently dragged him out of the cupboard, triggering another couple of windows.

Confused, and with a quiet "Yes, uncle Vernon." Harry went towards the kitchen. Still reeling from the fact that apparently only he could see the glowing blue windows, he automatically went through the motions of assembling the supplies for breakfast. As he was calming down he took the time to actually read the windows that appeared.

* * *

 **[Quest!]**

 **Feeding the animals**

Objective 1: Successfully prepare breakfast for your relatives.

Objective 2: Very well prepared meal.

Objective 1 reward: 50 XP, avoid morning punishment

Objective 2 reward: breakfast

Failure: 25 XP, receive severe punishment

 **Accept/Decline**

* * *

As he read the title of the quest he mentally chuckled. When he saw what he stood to gain he quickly accepted the quest and moved on to the next window (as he was doing this he still went through the motions for preparing breakfast, so used to it that it barely required thinking for him). It was a small window to the side.

* * *

You have taken 12 damage.

HP -12.

* * *

As soon as he had acknowledged and read the window it disappeared without action from him. It seems like these kind of windows will disappear as soon as he has read them. Moving on to the next window he found a new type of window.

* * *

 **[Skill Category Unlocked!]**

 **General**

The category for general skill which do not fall under specific categories. It is one of the few categories that do not have levels and thus no bonuses.

* * *

Confused as to what it meant, he stared at it for a second before closing it and moving on to the last window that opened. To his surprise he found yet another new type of window.

* * *

 **[Skill Acquired!]**

 **Physical Endurance**

Passive

Level 100/100, Master

Difficulty: Hard

This skill increases the durability of your body and how much physical damage it can take.

+25% physical damage resistance

+100% wisdom-based HP-regeneration

Mastery bonus:

+5% physical damage resistance

+25% vitality-based HP-regeneration

+5 Vitality

* * *

It was safe to say that Harry was quite confused when he reached the end of the window. There were several things he didn't understand from the window. To begin with, how had he mastered the skill as soon as he had acquired it? And what was that about difficulty? He recognised the part about regeneration, but the resistance he only vaguely remembered from the status page. Even as the confusion took a hold of him, he felt a growing excitement inside of him.

While he had felt excitement many times in his life, this were a new kind to him. He had many times felt the adrenaline rush and excitement from being in situations were he might get hurt, for example from his part of the game "Harry Hunting", but this was another kind of excitement. It was excitement based in happiness and enjoying the current situation. He barely stopped himself from resuming the tutorial, he couldn't wait to find out more about his new reality!

He refocused on preparing breakfast. As usual it was an English-style breakfast, the Dursley version. It consisted of scrambled eggs, fried bacon, roasted toast with butter and sausage. It used to contain mushrooms and beans, but after Dudley complained about them it was removed from the menu. To it was a cup of coffee in the case of Vernon, a cup of tea for Petunia and soda for Dudley.

He quietly concentrated on preparing breakfast to make it as good as possible, it was his breakfast that was on the line after all. If he made it well enough he would actually get to eat it. As he finished frying the bacon another window appeared. Not wanting to mess anything he quietly ignored it and continued making the breakfast. As he finished cooking several more windows appeared. Still ignoring the windows he quickly went to serve his uncle breakfast. As he entered the dining room he froze as another aspect of his power became clear to him.

There was another window, but this time it was not in front of him, it was over his uncle's head. And even thought it was so far away, he could still see what it said.

* * *

 **Vernon Dursley**

 **[Director at Grunnings]**

Level 23

Director

* * *

Trying to keep from staring, he quickly served his uncle breakfast and placed the servings for his aunt and cousin at their usual places. Petunia entered the dining room just as he was about to turn around. She also had a window above her.

* * *

 **Petunia Dursley**

 **[Gossip]**

Level 19

Housewife

* * *

"Good morning, sweetheart" Vernon called out when he saw her.

*Good morning, darling" she replied while studiously ignoring Harry except for a quick scowl in his direction.

Harry returned to the kitchen to clean up. As Harry was cleaning up yet another window popped up. By now he was really curious but his determination held fast. He would go through the windows when he was in more stellar company, i.e. away from the Dursleys. He finished cleaning up the kitchen and arrived at the dining room just in time for Vernon and Petunia to take the first bite (they had only sipped their coffee and tea before then). If you looked closely you could find that their expression lightened a smidgen before it was quickly hidden away, it wouldn't do for them to actually make him think they were happy with it after all. Sadly for them, Harry had learned their cues a long time ago and even received a game window as evidence this time. Knowing that this window decided whether he would get to eat breakfast or not he quickly read through it.

* * *

 **[Quest Completed!]**

 **Feeding the animals**

Objective 1: Successfully prepare breakfast for your relatives.(Complete)

Objective 2: Very well prepared meal. (Complete)

Objective 1 reward: 50 XP, avoid morning punishment

Objective 2 reward: breakfast

You received 50 XP, no punishment and the right to eat breakfast today.

* * *

He was overjoyed about his success, Vernon took any opportunity to punish him so being able to avoid it was fortunate. Harry quickly served himself breakfast and after a nervous glance at his relatives (while he did get a frown from them they thankfully stayed quiet) sat down and quickly ate his breakfast. He ignored the conversation between his aunt and uncle and focused on getting done as quickly as possible. As he finished his meal, he once again heard and saw another window popping up. As he was pondering whether to read it or not, Petunia turned towards him.

"You! Listen here, me and Dudders will go shopping with aunt Marge today while Vernon is at work. I want you out of the house by 9 and by then the kitchen better be spotless and all the food packed up. And you better not come back before 4 PM!" she told him.

For his part, Harry didn't know whether to be happy or not. Had it been in the summer he would have been happy, but it was November now. While it was nice to be rid of his relatives, it was still chilly outside. Thankfully it looked like it were gonna be a sunny day, so the temperatures shouldn't fall too low. Either way, there was no other correct response other than an affirmative so with a quiet "Yes, aunt Petunia." Harry scrambled away from the table towards his cupboard.

It was almost 8 right now so he should hopefully have enough time to finish the tutorial. But first, the windows! As he closed the door to the cupboard he focused on the first window that appeared.

* * *

 **[Skill Category Unlocked!]**

 **Cooking**

Level 51/100, Journeyman

Difficulty: Hard

The cooking category contains your cooking related skills and shows how accustomed you are to cooking food and preparing meals.

Journeyman bonus:

+50% Dexterity while cooking.

+25% increase in buff duration and strength from food prepared by you.

+25% taste in meals you prepare.

Meals prepared by you are 20% healthier.

25% chance to figure out the recipe of eaten food of intermediate difficulty or lower.

* * *

As he read through the skill he couldn't help but think that he really needed to get back to the tutorial so he could understand just what the windows meant. Still, he couldn't help wanting to read through the other windows since he was really curious what they were about. With his priorities set straight, he went right for the next window.

* * *

 **[Skill Acquired!]**

 **Frying**

Passive

100/100, Master

Difficulty: Intermediate

A skill under the category Cooking. How skilled you are at frying food. Also shows your skill with the various frying tools that is part of the kitchen equipment.

+25% increase in buffs from recipes containing fried food.

-50% tear on frying equipment.

+50% taste to food you fried.

-20% unhealthy qualities in food you fry.

Mastery bonus:

+100% damage done with frying tools (skillets, frying pan etc.)

+50% time duration to buffs from recipes containing fried food.

+5% fire resistance.

* * *

By now he was really wondering how he could have such high levels in so many skills. Did he retain all knowledge and training from earlier and only had to trigger them to find them? It seemed likely. One thing was for certain thought, he was gonna find a skillet to use as a weapon.

Moving on to the next window he found a new type of window.

* * *

 **[Cooking Recipe Learned]**

 **English-style breakfast (Dursley Version)**

Level 100/100 Master

Difficulty: Simple

An English-style breakfast prepared as the Dursley household prefers it. Consists of scrambled eggs, fried bacon, toast with butter and sausage.

Buff duration: 1 hour and 45 minutes (1 hour + 75%)

Buff: +37,5% HP and HP-regeneration (25% + (25%*50%))

Mastery bonus

Buff: +3 Strength (2 + 50%)

* * *

He stared at the window amazed, if something that simple gave such a boost he could only imagine what a complicated and well prepared meal would give him. He had a good guess what his next window would be.

* * *

 **[Skill acquired!]**

 **Cleaning**

Passive

100/100, Master

Difficulty: Easy

A skill under the general category. Shows how skilled you are at cleaning up various types of messes. Concerns everything from dusting to swabbing. Might be useful in the most unlikely of places.

+300% efficiency (i.e. what would normally take 1 hour takes 15 min).

50% less cleaning materials needed.

75% less tear on cleaning equipment.

Mastery bonus:

All broom related skills +25% **.**

+100% damage done with cleaning tools.

+5% water resistance.

* * *

Surprised that it wasn't the buff, he pondered as to why, when he realised that he cleaned before he ate so the next window should be the buff. It was nice that it was another mastered skill, but when he though about it he wasn't really all that surprised considering the amount of time he had spent on them growing up. Moving on to the final window, he found the window he expected.

* * *

 **[Buff gained!]**

 **English-style breakfast (Dursley Version)**

+3 strength

+37,5% HP and HP-regeneration

Duration left: 1h 27m

* * *

No surprise there. With that, he were done with all the windows and his curiosity abated, so he decided to resume the tutorial. With a quick, whispered "Resume tutorial", the tutorial returned. When it was the same window as earlier that returned (Increasing attributes) he followed the instruction to go to the next stage, i.e. he closed it. With that done, a new window popped up.

* * *

 **[Tutorial – Level]**

Now that you know about the attributes, it's time to know about levels. Levels is a simple way of determining the rough power ranking between you and others, but are in no way absolute. Certain low level enemies might still be more dangerous than higher level ones, these will usually carry special marks on them, indicating elite status or other special statuses. Certain skills will allow you to see more information about targets other than the information provided by the enemies status window (the window above them). The status window shows the target's name, title, level and class.

To level up you need to gather something known as experience points (XP). Experience points can be gained in several ways, most commonly by completing quests or slaying enemies.

Every level up provides you with 3 status points to distribute.

Every 10 levels provide you with something called a perk point.

Press continue to proceed

 **Continue**

* * *

Nothing really surprised him this time, but he had to admit he was intrigued about the perk points. Not having anything special to think about, he decided to just move on to the next part.

* * *

 **[Tutorial – Resistance]**

The next part is the various resistances. Your resistance to different types of damages or status effects decides how much damage will be disregarded. For example if you have 10% fire resistance and is hit by an attack that would cause 100 fire damage you only take 90. Beware of negative resistance, since that means that you will take extra damage from attacks.

Press continue to proceed

 **Continue**

* * *

Once again, the information was basic enough that he just went onto the next part.

* * *

 **[Tutorial – Titles]**

Titles are something gained through many different, for example actions, reputation or skills. They can both be positive and negative and some are forcefully equipped and locked in certain situations. To find out more information about titles and other parts of your status press the shadowed tab at the top of the right page. The current page is the highlighted one.

Switch tab to continue

* * *

Looking at his current title ' **Freak** ', he had a bad feeling about what it did for him. Not one to be deterred by bad news, he soldiered on. Switching tabs, he found even more information.

* * *

 **[Status Effects]**

 **Buffs**

Food (English-style Breakfast (Dursley Version):+3 STR, + 37,5% HP/MP regeneration.

 **Titles**

Freak: Effective charisma set to 1, this title is locked in the vicinity of the members of The Dursley household while in Little Whinging.

 **Perks**

?'?'?'?'? ?'?'?'?'?: All ?'?'?'?'? related skills +3 and a +10% learning rate. All ?'?'?'?'? related skills +3 and a +10% learning rate and ?'?'?'?'? (bound).

Remaining perk points:0

 **Wards**

?'?'?'?: Protects you against ?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?. Currently at a very low power due to ?'?'?'?'?, drains the user to stay active (-50% MP) since ?'?'?'?'?. Gives you ?'?'? ?'?'? resistance.

?'?'?'?: ?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?.

 **Curses**

?'?'?: ?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?. ?'?'?'?'?'?'?'?'? -25% dark magic resistance.

 **Ailments**

Malnourished: -25% to Str, Vit and poison/disease resistance, athletic skills cannot rise above novice rank, if not removed before becoming a teenager, this ailment changes to 'Stunted Growth', a disablement.

 **Disablements**

Bad eyesight: -40% to dex, can be removed if you know where to look for a cure.

 **Summary** : Harry James Potter is the unwanted nephew of Petunia Dursley, former Evans. He was born on the 31st of July, 1985. He was later orphaned at a young age from his loving parents and ended up in the not so loving care of his aunt and uncle. He has little knowledge about his parents other than that their last name was Potter and that they are dead. According to his relatives they were good-for-nothing drunks, but Harry has his doubts. Harry's life has recently taken a turn for the better with him receiving the powers of The Gamer. Other than that Harry knows little of himself. He has a distinct scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt.

* * *

Harry could do little but stare in shock at all the new information. As he had suspected the title was a really bad one, which he really hoped he would be able to remove (thought he held little hope of actually achieving it). The rest caused more questions to appear than they solved in his opinion. What was with all the question marks everywhere? And why did he have something called a ward on him? And even weirder, why was he cursed? The ailments weren't surprising, but when he read them he decided to do everything he could to remove them. The malnourished ailment in particular seemed likely to cause major problems for him. And honestly, who wants to have bad eyesight.

What really concerned him though was a single word. It was the word 'bound'. When he had initially read the 'Perks' section he had been excited as the word reappeared again, but as he reached the word 'bound' he couldn't help but be concerned. What was it that had been bound, by whom and how. Was it a result of the curse he had on him or did someone have the knowledge of him and his ability and the ability to actually interfere with his abilities without him knowing about it. Either way it didn't sit well with him and he decided to try and find out about it. Discretely, of course.

Just as he had processed enough of the information to have an idea of what was going on the next window appeared...

* * *

 **AN** : I initially intended to finish the tutorial this chapter, but there is still a lot left and this chapter is already 5000 words long or 28000 characters. So I felt it was better to split it into several chapters instead of releasing one very long chapter. It also allows me to receive eventual feedback from you, my readers. Thank you for all the follows and favourites (was 31/20) when I uploaded this. I was surprised the response was that high considering the length of the chapter was so short. Anyway, it made me happy. Special thanks to oneoddtodd, sudhush and kronos797 for reviewing.


	3. Chapter 2 - The Tutorial (Part 2)

Disclaimer: All characters and locations belongs to J.K Rowling.

Thoughts looks like this ' _example'_

Speech looks like "example".

Note: The writer on this site won't allow me to use indents, so I had to improvise for the skill system (my system is a lot easier to visualise with indents). Now, every skill or category that is part of a category will have the closest category named within {}. For example, frying, a skill part of the cooking category will look like this Frying {Cooking}. Will try to use bold, italics and underline to make it easy to see.

 _ **Chapter 2: The tutorial (part 2)**_

* * *

 **[Major Quest!]**

 **The search for what was bound**

During an inventory of your statuses you found out that something or someone has caused one of your abilities to be bound. You will not stand for this!

Objective 1: Find out what ability has been bound.

Objective 2: Find out who or what caused it.

Objective 1 reward: ?'?'?, knowledge of bound ability, new quest

Objective 2 reward: ?'?'?,?'?'?

Conditions for failure: ?'?'?, bind not removed before 11th birthday.

Failure: Ability lost forever.

Accept

 **Yes/No**

* * *

 **[Major Quest!]**

 **Cursed**

While reading about yourself you found out that you have an actual curse on you. Find out as much as you can about it.

Objective 1: Find out who cursed you.

Objective 2: Find out why you were cursed.

Objective 3: Find out what the curse is.

Objective 1 reward: ?'?'?, ?'?'?

Objective 2 reward: ?'?'?, ?'?'?, ?'?'?

Objective 3 reward: ?'?'?, ?'?'?, ?'?'?

Failure: highly increased chance of death

Accept

 **Yes/No**

* * *

For a few minutes Harry silently stared at the new windows and contemplated the new information. While there were a lot to take in, he still felt that he had little choice about his next course of action. He stood little to gain and a lot to lose by rejecting them so he had already decided what he would do.

The quests gave him two pieces of information that he had not known beforehand. First was that the bound ability would be forever out of his reach if he didn't break the bind before his 11th birthday. He couldn't understand why that limitation existed. Was it something specific for the ability, the bind or something else? Still, there was little he could do with the information so he filed it away for now, to contemplate later.

The second piece of information was the consequences of the curse. While it didn't elaborate whether it was the curse itself that would kill him or whether merely lacking information about the curse was dangerous, he still couldn't help but feel an involuntary shudder at just what he had been cursed with. Still, as with the information about the bind, there were little he could do about it for now. He decided to keep it in mind and file it away for now.

Accepting both of them, and receiving a "Quest Accepted" in return, he resumed his study of the second page of the status screen. It didn't take more than a couple of second before yet another window was triggered. This time it was a more familiar window.

* * *

 **[Tutorial – Status Effects]**

Welcome to the second page of the status screen. This page mainly contains various temporary, long term and and permanent status effects. They are divided into different categories based mainly on their effects, what they are and how they were acquired. The ones you are aware of are **Buffs** , **Titles** , **Perks** , **Wards** , **Curses** , **Ailments** and **Disablements**. The can give both positive and negative boosts to attributes, resistances, HP/MP, HP/MP-regeneration, skills and damage types.

To advance the tutorial, close this window and get a detailed description of each type by pressing its name.

* * *

Since there were no surprises this time, he decided to just proceed with the tutorial and contemplate each status effect in turn. Deciding that the order didn't really matter, he went with descending order. Pressing **Buffs** , a new screen appeared.

* * *

 **[Buffs]**

Buffs are generally positive or negative boosts with a specified duration. Most of them lasts a couple of hours at most, but there are some that can last days or even longer. The most common ways to acquire a buff is through consumables or skills. Sometimes buffs can cancel each other out if they have similar effects or they can weaken each other if not compatible. For example, using the same buff a second time on the same target before the first buff has dissipated will merely renew it.

If two buffs with similar but opposite effects are used , for example +2 Strength and -2 Strength, the end result will usually be that both are cancelled. If there is a major difference in duration between them, the longer buff will just be shortened.

* * *

Making sure to remember the limitations of buffs and how they worked while being well aware of the current, and only, buff he had, there weren't really anything he felt he needed to consider about them right now, so he just decided to continue on to the next category of status effects.

* * *

 **[Titles]**

A title works much like regular equipment, it has an equipment slot and various bonuses. The bonuses might both be positive and negative. Titles can be acquired through actions and/or how people perceive you. You can currently equip one title at a time.

* * *

Titles were much like he imagined, but that last sentence was interesting. It said that he was limited to one title at a time, but hinted that it was only the current limitation. So it was very likely that he would be able to equip more later.

He found, to his surprise, that he really didn't care all that much about his current title, Freak. Since it had little effect outside the Dursley family, except turning his charisma down to 1, he didn't really feel inclined to care about it. He wanted as little as possible to do with the Dursley and he was frankly quite sure that the feeling was mutual.

But now it was time for something he had been looking forward to. Quickly closing the 'Titles' screen, he opened the 'Perks' window.

* * *

 **[Perks]**

Perks are generally positive boosts that are permanent, though some can be lost and some are negative. Some perks can give you access to special skills. Perks can be of various strength, some are very powerful and can be real game changers, while others are minor in their effect. Perks can be acquired in various ways.

can be bought with Perk Points.

can be acquired by actions or as special quest rewards.

using a consumables.

Perk points can be gained every 10 levels. Other ways to get perk points are by quest rewards or consumables. One perk may cost more than one perk point so be careful of how you spend them, there are no refunds easily available.

* * *

Harry couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed, he had expected to be able to see what perks were available. Sadly, he only got a description of what it was and how to obtain them, while that was good information, it wasn't what he had hoped. It also did little to clear up what his only current perk did. Disappointed, he quickly proceeded to the next category, **Wards**.

* * *

 **[Wards]**

Wards are a form of magical protection. They can be used to ward the target against many different things, only limited by the skill of the warder and the power available. It can protect against certain types of damages, diseases, certain actions and objects and much more.

Some wards can be activated and deactivated to make it more flexible and conserve power. If a ward is broken it can generally not be reactivated, but must be recast.

* * *

Well, at least that cleared up his earlier question about wards. Still, he wondered what the wards he had on him did. Pondering a couple of ideas for a few seconds he shrugged, it didn't seem to clear up the description any more than it already was so he just decided to move on.

* * *

 **[Curses]**

A curse is a malign status effect that require special care to be removed. They can have various effects, varying from causing grievous wounds to sealing attributes, other parameters and the use of skills and many other effects. Some curses are fatal in nature.

* * *

It was generally what he had expected, though it didn't make him feel any better about being cursed. Moving on to get done with this part of the tutorial, the last two were kind obvious anyway.

* * *

 **[Ailments]**

Temporary detrimental effects such sickness, disease and broken bones. With proper care and time they will disappear. They can cause various detrimental effects.

* * *

 **[Disablements]**

Permanent detrimental effects such as stunted growth, permanently damaged body parts (damaged vision, amputated leg etc.) and mental deficiencies. Many of these can be healed but require a lot of care and specialised knowledge.

* * *

Satisfied with what he knew about the status effects he had barely had time to think that he was ready for the next tutorial window before it appeared.

* * *

 **[Tutorial – Status]**

You are now done with the status window. When you are satisfied with what you know about the status window and want to proceed to the next section, press Proceed.

 **Proceed**

* * *

Deciding to take a quick look at the first status page before continuing he switch back to page number one.

* * *

 **[Status]**

Name: Harry James Potter | | | Age:10

Race: Human | | | Title: Freak

Class: The Gamer

Level: 0 | | | Next level: 50/100

HP: 300 | | | MP: 100/100 (200)

HP/min: 22,75 (31,28) | | | MP/min: 11 (15,13)

 **Attributes**

Strength: 3 x 0.75 + 0 = 2,25 (5,35)

Dexterity: 5 x 0.6 + 0 = 3

Vitality: 8 x 0.75 + 0 = 6

Charisma: 3 x 0 + 1 = 1

Intelligence: 4 x 1 + 0 = 4

Wisdom: 2 x 1 + 0 = 2

Status points left: 0

 **Resistance**

Dark Magic: -25%

Disease: -25%

Fire: 5%

Physical damage: 30%

Poison :-25%

Water: 5%

 **Summary**

Harry James Potter is the unwanted nephew of Petunia Dursley, former Evans. He was born on the 31st of July, 1985. He was later orphaned at a young age from his loving parents and ended up in the not so loving care of his aunt. He has little knowledge about his parents other than that their last name was Potter and that they are dead. According to his relatives they were good-for-nothing drunks, but Harry has his doubts. Harry's life has recently taken a turn for the better with him receiving the powers of The Gamer. Other than that Harry knows little of himself. He has a distinct scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt.

* * *

Feeling satisfied that he understands everything he sees, he decides to move on. He presses proceed on the tutorial window and watch as a new window takes its place.

* * *

 **[Tutorial – Inventory]**

The inventory is a dimensional storage space that allows you to place items into it, regardless of size (to a certain degree). To summon it, use the command "Inventory". Duplicates of the same item will cause them to form a stack and take up only one slot. All money stored in the inventory can be freely converted into different currencies.

The inventory consists of two parts, similar to the status window.

On the left side we have a 3-dimensional image of you with your current equipment and corresponding equipment slots. To remove equipment, just place your finger on it and drag the item away to the inventory slots on the right side. In the inventory slot you can have various items, but no live intelligent species (so no humans, no matter how stupid they may seem). The only exception to this would be soul bound individuals such as a familiar. You can insert insects and animals of similar intelligence into the inventory. To equip an equip able items, drag them to the corresponding equipment window, if a mistake is made, the item will return to it original inventory slot.

Equipping is disabled for all armour slots during combat (i.e. no changing armour during combat).

To view the properties of an item, press it once. To fast-equip it, press twice.

No deterioration of items will occur while they are stored in the inventory, unless quest-bound to do so.

The tabs on the top of the page denotes different inventory pages. There is no specific sorting used, it is just to allow you more freedom in sorting your items.

To proceed to the next part of the tutorial, press proceed.

Proceed

 **Yes/No**

* * *

Harry couldn't help but gape at the screen in front of him. He could almost feel his metaphorical jaw on the floor. This was so broken it was ridiculous. He could carry with him, if he understood it correctly, any amount of items without caring about their weight. The grin that spread over his face seemed to threatened to split his face in two. He would abuse the heck out of this.

This was also the key to be rid of that pesky 'Malnutrition' ailment he had, he just had to store food to eat for later whenever he had access to it. And with it being hidden inside his inventory, his relatives would not be able to find it. Still it wouldn't do to just empty the fridge no matter how dumb they might be, they would notice that. So he decided to build up a stock of food as soon as possible.

That resolved, he decided to inspect his "Equipment" (if it was worthy of such a name).

* * *

 **[Moth-eaten shirt]**

A shirt so old and tatty that the moths came and ate what was salvageable and then left the rest.

Durability: 2/20

Due to bad condition:

-1 Charisma

* * *

 **[Shabby old pants]**

Used to be a pair of pants, now they are just something to cover the unmentionables.

Durability: 4/25

Due to bad condition:

-1 Charisma

* * *

 **[Down-at-heel shoes]**

A pair of mismatched shoes down to their last legs.

Durability: 10/30

* * *

Well, that was just about what he expected. He was a bit peeved at the minus in charisma, but his title already ensured he was at what he assumed was the least possible value, 1, so he wasn't all that irritated about it. After a short rant about it, he decided to try out the inventory. Grabbing his glasses,Vernon had dragged him out before he could take them with him last, he slowly moved it towards an inventory slot. As it met the slot, a brief light glowed over the slot and he felt his glasses disappear from his hand. Staring at the slot which now contained glasses, he slowly poked it with his finger once.

* * *

 **[Broken glasses]**

A pair of glasses which consist of roughly 50% tape and glue, but they are still functional.

You have carried and used these for so long that what should have been no help what so ever to your vision, will now help you a bit.

Durability: 3/13

'Bad vision'-status effect reduced by 50% (40% → 20%)

* * *

Finally, an item worth having. He was a bit surprised that they actually worked for him though. As far as he knew it glasses was not supposed to adapt to the bearers vision, they were not supposed to work like that. He reckoned that it had happened due to the same circumstances that caused him to develop these power. He pressed the glasses twice and felt his glasses appear on his face.

 _'Sweet, that will be very useful for the more bothersome equipment'_ he thought. With that tested, he decided to put all his belonging into the inventory. It was a pitiful amount, but it was his. It consisted of a few treasured belongings and some emergency food. His "food" consisted of a couple of emergency rations and a bottle of water.

One of his treasured belongings was one of his favourite childhood stories, Calvin and Hobbes, which he had "borrowed" from Dudley once he had gotten bored of it (which was approximately 5 minutes after he had first picked it up, he still wasn't sure if Dudley could actually read yet) and a good amount of time had past. He suppressed a shudder at what the Dursleys would have done to him if they ever found out he had taken anything that was Dudley's. Most of his basic reading skills came from that book (after he had learned to read simple words at least).

The second, and last, treasured belonging was by far the most precious. To anyone else it might have looked worthless, destined for the garbage can, but to him it was a priceless treasure. It was a small, torn blanket. It was also his only belonging that he had got from his parents. It was his only proof that he had been born into this hell.

He fondly stroked the blanket, carefully avoiding the torn seams and holes in it. Looking at it for a few seconds longer, he finally put it into his inventory. He then proceeded to put in all his food and water.

Just as he had finished, he heard his cousin, Dudley, running down the stairs. The walls shocks from his weight and he could hear the stairs groan. The cupboard went quiet again when Dudley reached the bottom of the stairs. After a few seconds of silence, Harry could hear, and feel, Dudley running up the stairs again.

...and then down again. And then up. And finally down again. Harry knew there wouldn't be another "trip" up and down the stairs since his cousin had neither the attention span or physique required to accomplish such a task for so long. He could hear his aunt and uncle greet Dudley.

With the distraction gone and finally feeling done with his inventory, he decided to move on with the tutorial. As he pressed the 'Yes' button, he wondered what would appear this time. When he saw the name of the window, he had to suppress a small, and very manly according to him, squeal.

* * *

 **[Skills]**

 **Crafting**

 **Cooking {Crafting}  
**

Frying {Cooking}

 **General**

Cleaning {General}

Physical Endurance {General}

 **Language**

 **English {Language}  
**

Oral {English}

Written {English}

* * *

To his surprise, he found skills he wasn't aware of. He was about to press one of them for more information, but before he could do it, another window appeared before him.

* * *

 **[Tutorial – Categories]**

Welcome to the skills page. As you might have guessed, it contains the skills you obtain. To reach the skills page you use the command ' **Skills** '. As 'The Gamer' you have access to countless skills which falls under numerous different categories. They can be passive or active, require a cost to use, have a cooldown or a multitude of other conditions. Thus you will need to read and understand each skill and the category it falls under to use it to its fullest potential.

The first step to understanding skills is ' **Categories** '. A 'Category' can be seen as a collection of skills of sorts. They, as skills, also has levels, but are harder to level up than the skills that fall under them. There are many advantages to levelling up categories.

All skills under the level of their category receives a double experience points boost until they reach the level of the category.

The categories can provide several boosts to various parameters and the boosts will usually increase as its level rises.

The levels are divided into **five** different ranges, with each one giving increasing the boost given. When you reach a new stage, the experience required to level up increases. The ranges are the following.

 **Novice** : Level 0-24

The first stage of skill. You have little practise with the skills in this category.

 **Adept** : Level 25-49

The second stage of skill. You are starting to get a 'feel' for the skills in this category and are not completely horrible any more.

 **Journeyman** : Level 50-74

The third stage of skill. You have taken your first steps towards mastering this skill, but are still a long ways off.

 **Expert:** Level 75-99

The fourth stage of skill. You have a deep knowledge and understanding of the subject, but the innermost secrets still eludes you.

 **Master** : Level 100

The final stage of skill. You have mastered the secrets this subject held and can easily grasp new knowledge in the subject.

' **Categories** ' will gain experience from various things. They will gain a small amount of experience every time you use or level up a skill that falls under them. They will gain a decent amount of experience when a skill under them reaches a new rank. The higher the rank they reach the more experience it gains.

 **Continue**

* * *

Well, he could certainly see the advantages of having a high levelled 'Category' in comparison to a low levelled one. Not only did it make him stronger, but also allowed him to advance his skills faster. Thinking back to his 'Cooking' skills, he remembered that it was level 51, in the 'Journeyman' stage.

Having memorized the information, Harry pressed continue.

* * *

 **[Tutorial – Skills]**

Skills represent actions you perform and how well you can perform them. How well you can perform them is s by a level between 0 and 100. The level range is divided in the same way as **'** ** **Categories**** **',** from Novice to Master, and will increase in difficulty every level instead of when you rise in rank as is the case in **'** ** **Categories**** **'.**

Skills comes in various forms, they can be combat oriented, crafting oriented or various other kinds of. Some skills cannot be unlocked until certain requirements are met. These requirement can and will vary, a few examples being that another skill or category need to have reached a certain level, a certain amount of status points in an attribute and many other requirements. Some skills might be limited by the level of another skill as well.

Some skills are related to other skills and will gain a 50% experience boost until they reach the level of the related skill.

Skills will level up as you use them and/or figure out more details about the skill. Some equipment and buffs might increase your skill level.

Don't forget to check every skill and category, each might gain different things from reaching a new rank.

 ** **Continue****

* * *

 _'Hmm, so that's how skills work. I wonder if there's more to it than that.'_ he thought while pressing continue.

* * *

 **[Tutorial – Difficulty]**

It is important to understand that just because you have a category or a skill mastered, doesn't mean that there is nothing more for you to learn within the subject or about the skill. For example, a language skill. Just because you have mastered a language does not mean that you know all the words or ways to use them, it means that what you do know you can handle well and all new knowledge is swiftly assimilated and understood and you will quickly be able to make use of it.

Both ' **Categories** ' and ' **Skills** ' have something called a difficulty level. The difficulty level determines how hard it is to increase the level of its subject. Higher difficulty gives higher rewards.

There are 5 different levels of difficulty. They are **Simple** , **Easy** , **Intermediate** , **Hard** and **Extreme**.

To continue the tutorial, press the tab which says ' **Crafts** '.

* * *

 _'I should check the [English]-skills and the [Language]-category before proceeding'_ Harry thought.

* * *

 **[English]**

Passive

Level 100/100, Master

Difficulty: Native language

This skill denotes your overall skill with the English language. Since it is your native language and you lack any disablements that affect it negatively, you are a master of it.

Due to it being your native language, all bonuses are disabled.

* * *

 **[Language]**

Passive

Level 3/100, Novice

Difficulty: Extreme

The language category contains your language related skills. It denotes how proficient you are at languages and how quickly you pick them up. Higher levels will make it possible to learn harder languages.

* * *

 **[English – Oral]**

Passive

Level 100/100, Master

Difficulty: Native language

How well you speak the English language.

Due to it being your native language, all bonuses are disabled.

* * *

 **[English – Written]**

Passive

Level 100/100, Master

Difficulty: Native language

Your proficiency at writing and reading the English language.

Due to it being your native language, all bonuses are disabled.

* * *

 _'Well, that was straightforward. Too bad that I didn't get any bonuses from any of them.'_ he thought, before pressing the craft-tab.

* * *

 **[Crafting]**

 **Cooking**

English-style breakfast (Dursley Version)

* * *

After waiting a few seconds, another window appeared.

* * *

 ** **[Tutorial – Crafting]****

Welcome to the crafting screen. This window will show your current crafting skills and acquired recipes. Here you can check your progress on your recipes. Here you can also get a detailed description of ingredients/components and the how to create the item from the recipe.

This concludes the tutorial for all the available skill pages. The tutorial will proceed to the next section when you press continue.

 ** **Continue****

* * *

Seeing no point in waiting, Harry decided to proceed immediately to the next section. Thus, he pressed 'Continue'.

* * *

 **[Quests]**

 **[Major Quests]**

Cursed

The search for what was bound

 **[Normal Quests]**

The Tutorial

* * *

 _'So the "Major" part do make some sort of difference. I wonder what.'_ Harry though while waiting for the tutorial window to pop up.

* * *

 ** **[Tutorial - Quests]****

Welcome to the quest screen. Quests will be an essential tool for you in the future if you want to keep moving forward. A quest contains at least one objective and upon successful completion will give you a reward of some sort. Failing a quest can have various consequences. It might result in death if the quest pertains directly to your survival or it might just give you a slightly lower amount of experience than completing it would if the quest is simple and of little importance. A quest can be generated at the most unexpected times, but you should never underestimate the value of any quest, you never know if one quest might trigger another, more important quest. Do not blindly follow quests either, some might be too risky to be worth doing.

Quests can be of several different categories. Known to you is the ' **Major** ' and normal quest categories.

 ** **Normal quests****

Normal quests are used for most everyday quests and where the quests are of little personal significance and/or with minor long term consequences. Normal quests are usually straightforward and short.

 ** **Major quests****

Major quests are quests where the objectives are usually more complicated, harder and/or might have long term effects.

 **Continue**

* * *

 _'So a major quest is just as it sounds then, a kind of scaled up version of a normal quest.'_ he mused. While pondering this, he could hear Dudley running up the stairs again.

 _'Alright, guess they're done with breakfast then.'_ Harry thought. Since they were done and would be leaving soon, he had to clean up after so he would be allowed to leave without a fuss. Heaven forbid that they get the idea to leave him with his uncle's sister, Marge, who seemed to have a borderline unhealthy relationship with that evil dog Ripper.

Marge was like a female version of his uncle and, believe it or not, even worse than the rest of the Dursleys. She never seemed happy unless someone else was miserable.

And with that thought, Harry paused the tutorial, opened the door and left the cupboard. For the next 10 minutes he persistently ignored his relatives and cleaned up after them. Then, when he was done, he went towards the front door. With a quick "I'm leaving, aunt Petunia." he opened the door and stepped onto the porch.

 _'Well then, what should I do now?'_ Harry thought as he left Private Drive number 4.

* * *

 **AN: Sorry for the delay, took more time than I thought it would. Had to rewrite a large part of the chapter because I felt unhappy with it. I have tweak chapter 1 as well, but as long as you read the edit in the beginning of the chapter you should be fine. It was really just some minor stuff. We are almost done with the tutorial. I would probably be done with it already if I didn't keep insisting on inserting breaks for other stuff to happen so often.**

 **Thanks to sunrise66, Mel72000, moon so bright, snebic, snow fox2000, FinalKingdomHearts and sudhush for all the reviews since the previous chapter. I'm happy for all the positive feedback, don't hesitate to give me any constructive criticism if there is anything you want to say. I can't promise I will follow all suggestions, but I will try to keep them in mind.**


	4. Chapter 3 - The Tutorial (part 3)

Disclaimer: All characters and locations belongs to J.K Rowling.

AN: Hello everyone, sorry for just dropping of the face of the earth for a while. Had a lot of stuff going on IRL and couldn't find any energy or creativity to write. When I got back into the game a few months had passed so I felt kinda bad about it and it got further pushed back. What gave me that final push was rereading the review and the fact that there are still people reading/visiting my story daily. So to everyone that have read this story and especially to everyone that have reviewed it, thank you very much for your continued patience.

Now for some information. I have overhauled a lot of planned mechanics and events and I can safely say I have spent more time making spreadsheets and calculations than actually writing the story. Have 6 other documents to keep track of everything.

Most of the removed stuff won't be noticeable to you since it haven't even been mentioned yet. What you might notice though are that I have removed the reputation system. At the moment I can't give a good reason as to why I wrote it in to begin with since it will be very hard (and very unrealistic socially, I have had my entire opinion about people changed just because of a few sentences) to keep track of and scale properly.

Now onto the chapter.

Thoughts looks like this ' _example'_

Speech looks like "example".

* * *

 **Chapter 03 – The tutorial (part 3)**

* * *

As Harry walked through Privet Drive, he thought about his next move. First and foremost, he wanted to complete the tutorial. That said, he needed to find a place to sit down. He briefly considered to just head to the park and sit on one of the park benches, but an oddly well timed wind quickly discouraged that idea. That left him in a bit of a bind since there wasn't a lot of options available, Little Whinging was a small community after all.

He could head to one of public offices, but that would draw unnecessary attention. The Dursleys had disabused that idea a long time ago. If they were "investigated" it would just result in a few minutes of small talk and one major punishment for him. It wasn't possible for the upstanding member of the community Vernon Dursley, who was a director at the towns largest workplace, to be involved in any type of scandal after all. No, that wouldn't do. That the Dursleys had dragged his reputation through the mud didn't help his case either.

Anyway, he didn't have a lot options. He would have headed to the library, but since it was a holiday, it didn't open until 10 o'clock. That was an hour away. While he spent a few moments considering just enduring the cold, (which was meet with another oddly well timed wind) he quickly discarded idea. The next couple of minutes were spent walking around randomly while coming up with and then quickly discarding idea.

Window shopping was out, there was the risk of running into aunt Petunia and the rest, it was safe to say that he did not want that to happen.

Most other facilities were out, they were either closed or required you to pay. Considering that the Dursley would rather throw away money rather than give it to him, he was a bit low on funds (as in his current balance is 0).

It was a couple of minutes later that the solution came to him. He could go to the local church. It should be open by now and he wouldn't draw too much attention going there alone. That decided, he took of in a run towards in, forgoing walking to stave of the cold. Roughly one minute later he heard a now familiar sounds and another window appeared before him.

* * *

 **[Skill Acquired!]**

 **Running**

24/100, Novice

Passive

Difficulty: Intermediate

An athletic skill. Shows how good you are at running. Higher levels will showcase and increase in speed and a higher efficiency.

+12% running speed.

Novice bonus:

+1 Dexterity

+1 Vitality

* * *

He immiediality felt the small but noticable difference from before. Eager to see how much of a difference a skill could have, he pushed himself harder than earlier.

Rougly 15 minutes later and we find our hero standing next to a finely crafted gate while breathing hard. Taking a short breath to gather himself, Harry takes in the surrounding area.

The church lies on a small patch of land with a well tended garden and several small sculptures placed seemingly at random in it. Adjectant to the garden is a small graveyard which is connected by a small path. The perimeter around the garden and graveyard is defined by a hedge of roughly 2 meters. All in all, the area is what most would consider peaceful and shows signs of being well-tended.

The church itself is made of gray stone and while it have some sculptures as decorations on it, the design is straightforward and simple. It has a rectangular shape, with one aisle on each side of the nave and a tower on one end. The entrance is placed at the bottom of the tower and leads into the nave.

Having gathered himself,he steps through the gate and moves towards the entrance. However, he had barely taken a step into the area before a window appeared.

* * *

 ** **[New Area Found!]****

 ** **Church of Little Whinging****

An area dedicated to worshipping a being of higher power. The church belongs to the Church of England and follows the faith Anglicanism.

Buff:

+50% HP Regeneration

+50% MP Regeneration

Fatigue disappears 50% faster

+25% to Mind resistance

 ** **[The location has been added to [Maps]]****

* * *

Harry pauses for a brief moment before forcing himself to move on to avoid attention. Showing a sudden reaction, other than awe or happiness, to treading 'holy' ground around worshipper would almost certainly draw attention, especially since there aren't a lot of people around yet.

He soon reaches the tower and quickly steps past the wodden doors into the church. Right inside he sees a acolyte, apparently in charge of 'guarding' the entrance and greeting the followers. With a quick "Good morning" and recieving one in turn, Harry hurries past him. Moving past the entrance hall and through another set of doors, he finds himself inside the main part of the nave. Inside there are maybe 40 people of various ages and gender either praying, socialising or talking to one of the acolytes. From what Harry could see, there was one priest and three acolytes in attendance.

Harry sits down on one of the benches, assumes a prayer-like posture and tries to be as unnoticable as possible. It seems to work since no one seems to give him a second glance. With that done, he first reads the window that popped up when he entered the church area.

After reading through it he is amazed by the effect it has. 50% is a large increase!

' _Wow, that is amazing. Too bad that the buff seems to be bound to the location rather than having a time duration._ ' Harry thought to himself. It really was a bit annoying since he couldn't really make use of the buff since there wasn't any easily accessible area without people around.

' _Well, at least I don't have to worry about the cold in here._ '

And while the church wasn't as warm as the inside of a normal home, it was still warmer than the outside. Especially since he would be out of reach of that pesky wind. That being done, he decided to finish the tutorial so he could start thinking about his next step. And with that thought, another window appeared.

* * *

 ** **[Tutorial – Maps]****

Welcome to the next part of the tutorial, **Maps.** This section might seem obvious, but there are a few things to be aware of. First is that only the areas since you have activated your Gamer-powers will be availible. This is becuase of your auto-mapping feature.

The auto-mapping feature does just that, it creates your maps for you. No more pesky handdrawns maps to help navigate your gaming experience.

Now, let's look at your map-window.

* * *

And with that, another window appeared. As expected it showed a map, and from what he could see he deduced that it showed the church building.

* * *

 ** **[Tutorial – Maps]****

As you can see, the map window shows your current location and the surrounding area. You currently see the lowest scaled version of your maps. If you look at the menu, you can see that you can chose a lot of different stuff, though most of thses features are unavaible to you since you have not explored enough yet.

Your basic functions are to zoom in or out, chose an area, for example Little Whinging or 4th Privet Drive and to see a list of notable locations.

If you have a bond to a location that allows you to recieve information from it, then the maps window will allow you to follow it in real-time. Currently the only locaation that allows this is 4th Privet Drive.

You are also able to sort and save locations in favorite lists.

This concludes the [Maps]-tutorial since the rest of its' functions are not available to you.

Press Continue to proceed

 ** **Continue****

* * *

' _Well, this has potential._ ' Harry thought.

' _With this I can keep track of the Dursleys to some degree. The more that I can keep away from them the better._ ' and with that thought he pressed continue.

* * *

 ** **[Tutorial – Options]****

Welcome to the last major part of the tutorial, **Options**. This is where you can customize your gaming experience. Though there are only a limited number of options at the moment, you never know when more may appear.

These options affect various parts of the game and more information will be provided when prompted.

To proceed to the final tutorial window, press Continue.

 ** **Continue****

* * *

Happy that he could see the end of the tutorial, he quickly looked through the list of options available. There were a whole bunch of non-important options regarding the window, about its' appearance andnthe like. ' _Who would want to replace the window's ping with a sheep's bleat? Or reverse all the text?_ ' Harry thought while doing a mental facepalm at some of the options he saw. The only option that currently stod out were one he was determined to stay away from for now. It was the option 'Make windows visible to everyone.'. It went without saying that that option was not one which would end well for him.

So after configuring the windows apperance to his liking, he decided to proceed to the last tutorial message.

* * *

 **[Tutorial – Menu]**

Welcome to the last part of the tutorial.

Don't be worried about forgetting one of the earlier messages, you can revisit all information given by this tutorial by using the command **[Menu]**. The menu shows all major categories that we have gone through as well as the **[Tutorial]**. Just press the button corresponing to the section you want and it will forward you.

You have now gone through all the major parts of the game, but beware, much of the game mechanics remains to be explored so do not assume to know everythng.

And with that last bit of wisdom given, the tutorial is complete.

Happy Gaming!

/The Tutorial

* * *

And with that Harry closed his eyes, took a deep breath and considered everything that the tutorial had gone through. While he already felt unsure if he remembered everything correctly, he felt that he did in fact have the gist of it now. With that he closed the tutorial message. And a few seconds later, a familiar window appeared.

* * *

 **[Quest Complete!]**

 **The Tutorial**

What is going on? Find out what is happening.

Objective: Complete the tutorial (Complete)

Rewards: Hopefully understanding the situation, 50 XP.

You recieved 50 XP.

* * *

And as soon as that window appeared, another popped up as well.

* * *

 **[Level up!]**

 **Level 0 - 1**

You have recieved 3 status points.

Visit the Status page to spend them.

* * *

As soon as he had read it, the window disappeared again, leaving just the quest window. Reading through it he closed that one as well.

Now then, just what should he spend his points on...

* * *

AN:As you can see this was a short chapter to conclude the tutorial. I can't say when the next chapter will be up since I'm actually quite busy at the moment, but I can safely say that it won't take 5 months at least. And thanks again to everyone that reviewed. While I might not comment on your reviews, rest assured that I read everyone of them and tries to take them into account when I write the story.


	5. Chapter 4 - Exploration

Disclaimer: All characters and locations belongs to J.K Rowling.

AN:Hello again everyone. Sorry for keeping you waiting for the new chapter. To my shame, I have to admit that I actually had it 90% done within the first week after the last chapter was released. Then I got distracted by something, and suddenly it was Xmas. Well, better late than dropped I guess. Knew how sad I get when stories I like suddenly stop updating. I might also post another story soon. That story (if I decide to properly write it out) will most likely be quite short tho. Its basically a story idea that I haven't been able to stop thinking about for a while.

I decided to remove the Luck attribute from the game since it felt kinda out of place (and is way to OP). Gonna update the previous chapters to make this consistent. Sorry to the ones who wanted to see a Luck-focused Harry, but since I doubt I could write such a story for long, this is probably for the best.

Either way, here is the new chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter 04 – Exploration**

* * *

In the end, after having spent several minutes pondering it, Harry decided that he simple didn't know what status he needed to increase the most, though he was tempted into putting it all into strength to be able to fight of the Dursleys. So instead of spending it and regretting it, he thought that it was better to get some more experience playing before deciding. As soon as he had decided that, another window appeared.

* * *

 **[Attribute increase!]**

 **Wisdom + 1**

For taking in a lot of new information and understanding it as well as pausing to think things through before rushing ahead, Wisdom status has been increased by 1.

* * *

' _Oh, I forgot about that.'_ Harry thought. He had forgotten that attributes could be increased that way. He quickly opened up the tutorial again to quickly double check the information about status points. After having confirmed it he opened up the status page to have a look at his status.

* * *

 **[Status]**

Name: Harry James Potter | | | Age:10

Race: Human | | | Title: Freak

Class: The Gamer

Level: 1 | | | Next level: 0/200

HP: 338 | | | MP: 100/100

HP/min: 33,13 | | | MP/min: 28,88

 **Attributes**

Strength: 5,25

Dexterity: 4,8

Vitality: 6,75

Charisma: 1

Intelligence: 4

Wisdom: 3

Status points left: 3

 **Resistance**

Dark Magic: -25%

Disease: -25%

Fire: 5%

Physical damage: 30%

Poison :-25%

Water: 5%

 **Summary**

 **Harry James Potter is the unwanted nephew of Petunia Dursley, former Evans. He was born on the 31st of July, 1985. He was orphaned at a young age from his loving parents and ended up in the not so loving care of his aunt. He has little knowledge about his parents other than that their last name was Potter and that they are dead. According to his relatives they were good-for-nothing drunks, but Harry has his doubts. Harry's life has recently taken a turn for the better with him receiving the powers of The Gamer. Other than that Harry knows little of himself. He has a distinct scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt.**

* * *

Having confirmed his status, he began to ponder what his next course of action should be. As he saw it, he currently had three options available. First, to begin training to increase his attributes. Second, head of to the library to gather more information, though that might be considered a way of training his WIS and INT. And lastly, to explore and see if he could find anything. He really wanted to explore, but his state of dress were very discouraging of that option.

Deciding that he would have to procure some sort of measure against the cold before exploring, he though about his remaining options. In the end, he decided to head towards the library, since he didn't have a good idea for training his remaining attributes. The time was almost 10 o'clock now so if he went now he would get there just after they had opened.

With that he rose to leave, but as he turned towards the exit he was stopped by the curious priest, who had come to the child who had come into the church alone and underdressed. Harry froze when his eyes meet the priest's.

"G,good morning, Father." stammered Harry while doing a quick bow to the priest, having been surprised by the priest's sudden appearance.

"Good morning, child." the priest greeted him back. "Did you come here alone?"

"Yes, Father." Harry answered while racking his brain to explain why he was here alone and dressed like this this time of the year.

"I see." the priest answered, now looking less curious and leaning more towards concerned. "Where is your family?"

"..." drawing a blank, he could almost taste his growing panic. "M,my aunt has taken my cousin shopping and m,my uncle is at work."

While what the child was saying was setting of red flags in the mind of the priest, he could feel the growing anxiety of the child and pushed the conversation into another direction. "I see. Oh, excuse my manners, I'm Frank Dillion. It is nice to meet you child. May I have your name?"

"O,of course. My name is Harry Potter." Harry answered feeling the panic settling down now that the conversation was back on familiar ground. Now that he was a bit calmer and not taken by surprise, he thought up an excuse. "I,I'm sorry, but I have to go home. I was not supposed to go out today." Harry said while hoping that would be enough to placate the priest while taking the chance to observing the priest. The priest was an aged man around the age of 50 with short brown hair which had begun to get grey streaks in it. He wore a white priest robe with golden decors. On his hand was a wedding ring showing his married status. He took a glance at the window floating above the priest's head.

* * *

 **Frank Dillion**

 **[Father]**

Level 41

Priest

* * *

While some tenseness the priest at that, he was completely placated yet. Harry's nervousness could be attributed to that of a child being caught doing something that he wasn't supposed to do. "Then, if I may ask, did you feel that it was so important to come here that you disobeyed your family?"

Harry almost missed his question since he was stunned by the man's high level, he was much higher than the Dursleys were. Realsing that he needed to answer the question, he answered with the first thing that came to mind. "I,I wanted to pray for my parents."

With that the priest was finally placated, while he still had some doubts remaining he assumed that it was just his mind playing tricks on him. "Alright, then please allow me offer up my own prayer for them." With that the priest closed his eyes and assumed a praying position. Harry, feeling awkward just standing there, quickly mimiced his position. Doing his best to actually pray for them, since he felt bad about never having done it before, he focused on his task. After a short while he heard the sound of another window appearing. Realising that he would have to look at it later, he waited until he could hear the priest finishing.

With that he thanked the priest and moved to leave, but the priest stopped him before he could leave. "Where is your jacket, child? You can't go outside wearing only that much this time of the year."

"I,I don't have one."Harry answered while nervously shifting his feets.

The priest, taking in the state of his clothes, said "Then please wait here for a moment." with a soft look on his face before moving towards one of the aisles and then disappearing into it. Harry obiediently waited for the priest to reappear. He decided to look at the new window while waiting.

* * *

 **[Skill Acquired!]**

 **Meditate {General}**

Active

Level 1/100, Novice

Difficulty: Intermediate

Shows your prowess in the art of meditation. By using this skill the energy in your body moves more smoothly and more in tune with the nature around you. Do be aware of the dangers of using meditation since you are much more susceptible to damage while meditating.

When active:

+10% HP regeneration

+50% MP regeneration

+500% Damage taken

Less likely to notice enemies

* * *

' _Oh, my first active skill._ ' Harry thought happily. While he couldn't really make good use of it now since it seemed to be mostly focused on MP regeneration which he had no way of spending, it would be a huge help in the future. Just being able to increase his HP regeneration would be helpful.

A short while later the priest appeared with a bundle in his arms.

"Sorry for the wait, it took some time to find what I was looking for." and with those words the priest handed the bundle over to Harry. Harry received the package with a slight tremor in his hand. Carefully opening the bundle it turned out to be a windbreaker jacket and pants. Harry could only stare in shock at the bundle before turning his eyes towards the priest.

Both the jacket and pants were clearly parts of the same set since the designs were similar. They were black with red and orange highlights.

"I hope you will accept these." the priest said with a soft voice. "This was donated to the church, but it would be better if they got used rather than just lying around here."

Harry felt overwhelmed by the kindness shown, he had never received anything worth something before. And while the clothes had been used before, they were in very good condition. With tears gathering in his eyes, Harry bowed deeply while thanking the priest profusely and wiping his eyes.

He quickly put them on and while they were a bit too large, they were an appropriate size for him. With that he finally left the church while yet again thanking the Father for his kindness. Stepping outside he took stock of the weather and tried to feel if he was sufficiently clothed for exploring.

It was a clear difference from earlier. While he still felt some chills, they were limited to exposed areas such as his ears and hands. Checking the pockets of the jacket he found a black beanie that he immediately put on. Checking his pants pockets he found a 10 pound note and a short message from the priest.

* * *

"A small treat for you. Please use it well."

/Frank

* * *

Once again thanking the priest for his kindness in his mind, Harry moved to inspect the clothes.

* * *

 **[Windbreaker jacket]**

A windbreaker jacket. It offers moderate protection against cold and wet weather.

Defence: 3

+20% weather resistance

+10% water/wind resistance

* * *

 **[Windpants]**

A pair of pants that offers moderate protection against cold and wet weather.

Defence:3

+20% weather resistance

+10% water/wind resistance

* * *

 **[Black beanie]**

A black beanie made out of cotton. Offers light protection against cold and wet weather.

Defence:1

+10% weather resistance

* * *

' _Ok, that's way different compared to my other clothes._ ' Harry thought, happy that he finally had some protection against the weather. Now that he has some protection, he could start exploring.

With a thought he opened the map-window and examined it. There were a lot of greyed out areas, showing that he had a lot to explore. And with that thought Harry took of in a light run, excited to begin exploring and see what he could find now.

* * *

[Roughly 2 hours later]

Contrary to Harry's expectations he hadn't found a lot of stuff when exploring and were now beginning to grow bored of it. Opening the map window he confirmed his progress. Compared to when he began, a big part of the map had been filled in, but the lack of exciting discoveries had tempered his excitement. He had explored most of the nearby residential areas and part of shopping district, though he had different clothes than before, having seen his relatives through a window had quickly dissuaded him from exploring the rest of the district.

During the short time he had spent in the shopping district, he had managed to get a few locations added. Apparently some shops were added automatically while others were not, he wasn't really sure what criteria it was based on.

To cover as much ground as possible he had alternated between a light jog and fast-paced walking. As a result, his VIT had increased by 1, which he was happy about.

At the moment he was exploring the park, having already covered the playground (where he had discovered a abandoned football which he had promptly claimed as loot) and garden-like part of the park. The park was at the edge of the town and extended into a forest at it's furthest part. Harry was now drawing close to where the park became a forest. It was when he was nearing when he began to feel drawn towards an area further into the forest. Harry, curious as to what could cause him to feel that, headed into the woods.

Just 30 meters into the forest and the "feel" of the area changed, as if he had passed some kind of boundary. Barely had he had time to think and recognise it before a window appeared.

* * *

 **[Location found!]**

 **Low Potential Magical Area**

You have found an area which has potential to develop into a small magical area.

Requirement:

Magic charge: 0 / 100000

* * *

Harry couldn't help but stare owlishly at the message and wondering what the hell were going on. Barely had he thought that before another message appeared.

* * *

 **[Lore – Potential Magical Areas]**

Welcome to one of the hidden features of the game, Potential Magical Areas. These are places where magic has tried to gain a foothold but has only been able to provide a foundation since no magical creatures has been supporting its growth.

To go from being a potential magical area to a magical area requires the help of a creature with magical properties (humans counts as creatures as well) since they unconsciously releases refined magical energies. Creatures that live and feed on what the land provides may develop magical properties over generations. These creatures will then be able to provide the area with the necessary influence. This is the normal development of magical areas.

When feed enough magical power it will turn into a full fledged magical area. What the area contain is for the most part random, though it is to some degree influenced by the power provider.

Providing at least 75% of the required charge will attune the area to you, allowing further development after having conquered it. You charge it by finding the centre of the area and focusing your magical power into it.

The size of the area is dependant on the foundation so it is unlikely to expand much further than its initial area after the charge has been filled. Low potential area is typically between 1 and 10 hectare in size.

Magic areas naturally repels non-magical humans due to their history of destroying such areas.

* * *

When he finished reading another window appeared.

* * *

 **[Section Unlocked – Lore]**

You have unlocked the Lore-window. This page can be reached in the same way as all the other sections, either by its personal command, **Lore** , or from the **Menu**.

This section contains all special knowledge you acquire, for example special historic events, information about beast and various other stuff.

* * *

' _Alright, this is clearly a good event, though I'm unsure of what exactly this is. Is it possibly something similar to dungeons in games?'_ Harry pondered, if that were the case he had possibly found his way to increase his level. And that prompted yet another window to appear.

* * *

 **[Quest!]**

 **Dungeon?**

You have found a low potential magical area at the edge of Little Whinging's park. Will it be a dungeon or will it turn out to be something else.

Objective 1: Develop the area into a magical area.

Objective 2: Provide more than 75% of the magic charge.

Reward 1: 5 XP for each % provided.

Reward 2: Bond to area, ?'?'?

* * *

Encouraged by the new quest, Harry decided to find out more about this. He decided to first find out roughly how big the area is.

The area turned out to be in the shape of a circle and from Harry's estimation roughly 150 meters across. He found this out by checking his map (which displayed the area with another colouration) while walking around. While constantly looking back and forth between the area and his map, he had unlocked a new skill. The skill was "Identify", and had the following description.

* * *

 **Identify { Observation}**

1/100, Novice

Active

Difficulty: Hard

A skill which allows you to gain information about target object.

Cost: 20 MP

* * *

Potentially a very useful skill, it allowed him to check the area to keep track of the magical charging. The category **Observation** had the following description.

* * *

 **Observation**

A collection of skills that supply the user with information. Due to the varied nature of the skills under this category, it does not a level nor does it give a buff.

* * *

By using the skill while targeting the area with his mind and doing some tests, he found out that unless he is at full MP, the area cannot absorb any magic from him. Harry hypothesized that as long as he is not at full MP, he either doesn't release any magic into his surroundings or the type released is wrong. Either way, from this he realised that he had to spend a lot of time in the area to fill the charge.

The charging seemed to roughly equal his MP-recovery rate, so the time he would have to spend here would be a lot more than he could possibly spend here in a couple of days considering how little time he had to spend outside due to the Dursleys.

He did check if increasing his MP-regeneration would increase he charging rate by using his new skill meditation. The result was that it did indeed increase it though it was easy to forget about time while using the skill.

All in all, he spent roughly an hour searching, experimenting and charging. It might have taken more time unless he had been disturbed from his meditation by the growls from his stomach. As a result of the time spent meditating, his skill level increased from 1 to level 3.

Since he didn't have anything to eat as well as being quite bored with just sitting around charging the area, he decided to stop exploring for the time being and go get something to eat. Maybe he would stop by the library before going home.

* * *

AN:Thanks you for reading the chapter. Many thanks to all of you who also review it. Gonna cut this chapter here since I will not have time to write for the next week or so and I feel like I have kept you waiting long enough. As you have most likely realised, my updates will keep being irregular for now.

Sorry for not answering specific review, but I read every one of them nonetheless. When I get more consistent with the updates I will try to better myself.


End file.
